Today, icon of Akure Kingdom in Ondo State, foremost Yoruba leader and one of the major twines holding together the Yoruba nation, Baba Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti, clocks 99 years on earth. Born on May 11, 1926, Fasoranti is also a noteworthy bridge linking the highly romanticized First Republic politics and governance to the current order of things. Fasoranti’s political trajectory and ideology are deeply rooted in progressivism and Yoruba ideals and principles. As a politician, he affiliated with and imbibed the political philosophy of Yoruba’s ancestor, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Through the Action Group (AG) party and later the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Fasoranti served his political tutelage under leaders like Awo himself, Chief Michael Ajasin, Abraham Adesanya, rising to be the leader of Afenifere, Yoruba political cultural group. During the Second Republic, Fasoranti served as Commissioner of Finance in old Ondo State between 1979 and 1983. Legend has it that Fasoranti was Awolowo’s choice for governorship of old Ondo State but the content Fasoranti rejected it for personal reasons.
During the bloodthirsty military despotism of General Sani Abacha, Fasoranti was one of the NADECO leaders who that regime attempted to assassinate. In 1996, a clear attempt was made on his lift by regime goons. While the likes of Fasoranti are alive today by Providence, the Alfred Rewanes were not that lucky.He is held today as a symbol of the never-dying spirit of resistance against forces of tyranny and oppression. Fasoranti’s politics has never been about himself but the advancement of his people, a philosophy upheld by his resilience and fortitude in the face of visible danger and personal losses. When his daughter was killed by herders on the Akure-Ore road some years ago, Fasoranti, like the biblical Job, took Providence’s judgment with astonishing equanimity and stoicism. As leader of Afenifere, Baba Fasoranti has held the forte for Yoruba like his predecessors, canvassing and holding aloft solidarity to the unity of Yoruba people, supremacy of Yoruba ideals and the betterment of the lot of his people.
Fasoranti’s trajectory as a teacher must have imbued in him the principles of integrity, leadership, service and a teachable spirit. As a young man, he meandered through a primary school in his Uso village, to Ondo Boys’ High School, Yaba Higher College in Lagos, and the University College, Ibadan, the latter being where he bagged a higher degree in English/Geography. Upon beginning his career trajectory, it was his Alma-mater, Ondo Boys’ High School, that Fasoranti pitched his tent. He later became Principal of Oyemekun Grammar School and Iju-Itaogbolu Grammar School. Fasoranti is today held by his people as a legend who dedicated his life to the advancement of education and the place of knowledge in the advancement of society. As an underscore of his obsessive love for education, Fasoranti established the Omolere Nursery and Primary School and Akure High School, which today are his huge and imperishable imprints on the rock of education.
Regardless of my views, I must confess that my people of Akure hold President Bola Tinubu, through Baba Fasoranti, in a very high esteem. A chemistry works between the duo that is difficult to decipher. Could it have been forged in the smithy and grits of the NADECO years? When Afenifere delegation visited Tinubu in Aso Rock in 2023, the president did the near-centinarian the rare honour of personally wheeling him about in his chair. Akure people also say that never in the history of federal governance in Nigeria have they witnessed the kind of gale of federal projects that are coming to them under this government. The hitherto impassable Akure-Ikere road which our son, Ademola Adegoroye, gave impressionable fillip to as an 11-month minister, has received huge financial backing from Tinubu. So also the dualization of the Akure-Ore road where Baba Fasoranti’s daughter was unfortunately killed. The dualization of Ilesha-Akure-Benin road, I am told, has also been awarded. In the same vein, the most massive project ever in the area, the Akure Teaching Hospital, is sprinting so well that, it was said, Tinubu wants Baba Fasoranti to see it fructify in his life time.
While praying to God to grant Baba Fasoranti centenary and post-centenary existence, in good health, I salute this great son of Akure Kingdom today on his 99th birth anniversary.
